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Low turnout at Brush correctional facility tour

Lots of information on display about prospective marijuana business

By Jenni Grubbs

Times Staff Writer

Posted:
08/20/2014 11:59:21 AM MDT

Nick Erker, center, answers questions inside the former High Plains Correctional Facility during a open house and tour Sunday afternoon. Erker wants the city of Brush to lift its moratorium and allow him to convert the former prison, which he bought, into a recreational marijuana cultivation and retail facility. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Nick Erker tells the tale of how he came to buy a former prison and seek to turn it into a marijuana cultvation and retail facility during the informational session Sunday, at the open house and tour of the former High Plains Correctional Facility in Brush. (Jenni Grubbs / Fort Morgan Times)

Pulling into the parking lot, the high chain-link fences topped with razor wire made it obvious what type of facility lie ahead.

But all the security necessary for the former High Plains Correctional Facility in Brush may wind up getting put to a very different use.

Of course, that depends on whether Brush officials and residents bite on the bait being dangled in front of them by the former prison's new owner, Nick Erker.

The Fort Morgan businessman wants to use the facility to grow recreational marijuana and open a store to sell the product.

The bait part of this plan is that it could bring $500,000 in sales tax revenue and more than 30 jobs to the city of Brush, according to Erker.

But because the city has a moratorium in place for recreational marijuana retail establishments and cultivation of the plants, Erker would have to convince a majority of the council to overturn that, or else gather enough community support to pass a local ballot issue allowing it.

He thinks he has a sound plan that would help Brush thrive economically, and now it's his job to get people to take the bait.

To try to increase the nibbles on this plan, possibly even leading to bites, Erker opened the facility to the public Sunday afternoon, talked to anyone who wanted to discuss his plan, and brought in cannabis industry experts and marijuana advocates to provide information, answer questions and let people see where and how this idea could work.

The turnout at the tour was low, though, with people sitting in only about one-third of the many chairs set up for a big informational session in the facility's gymnasium.

Brush Mayor Chuck Schonberger was one of those people.

"We're getting input," he said of why he went to the former prison Sunday. "It's an interesting concept."

Schonberger said he was disappointed that more people did not go.

"It would be nice if more people could come and see the educational part," he said.

That "educational part" included posters that lined the corridors inside the prison, offering information and seeking to debunk myths about the legalized marijuana industry.

"A lot of people are so stuck in belief systems, and it's hard to get past that," the Brush mayor said.

But he also said he remains undecided about this whole idea.

"I'm still getting input," Shonberger said. "There would be economic benefits, for sure, but it really would be up to the people. We're still in the informational stage."

Of the Brush, Fort Morgan and Morgan County residents who did take the tour, many seemed to be in favor of the idea.

"I'm here to see what the plans are for out here," Brush resident Dale Parrish said, adding that he wanted to "show my support for the growing facility" and store being at the old prison.

Parrish said he wanted to see Brush have an opportunity to add a "viable industry" that wants to come in and provide jobs for the community.

"Where else are you going to find a more secure of a facility?" he asked. "This community needs jobs and the tax base so they can do improvements to the schools."

The need for revenue for the city seemed to be a recurring theme among self-proclaimed supporters.

"I actually reached out to Nick after that (first) council meeting, and said, 'How can I help?'" Brush resident Alison Gorrell said. "I can see how bad the town needs the revenue."

She pointed to Brush's downtown, which has many vacant storefronts.

"That's concerning," she said. "And I really don't think that this type of attention is going to bring negative people to town. It wouldn't be a big deal if people weren't making a big deal out of it."

Gorrell said she liked the idea of regulating marijuana locally and making it available under the regulation, instead of illegally and without any controls.

"I really think it's going to be a great thing," she said. "I really think once we get past the stigma, maybe people can be a little more open."

"He's going about it the right way," Travis Rode said of Erker's idea to re-purpose the prison this way. "I'm 68 years old. I've seen a lot come and go, and this is the right way to go about it. Make the bad guys go away. Make it legal, and get money for the county."

Others said they went just to get more information.

Several people, who each declined to offer their names, spent time walking around the corridors, reading the information signs, eating the "regular" brownies that were available, asking questions about Erker's plan, checking out the former cells that could become the sites of different stages of growing cannabis plants and seeing what the former prison looked like now.

One woman said she was there out of "curiosity."

She said she was learning a lot from her time at the prison Sunday afternoon, and now she would "just have to sort it all out."

Her friend agreed with her, but added that she was surprised at the low turnout.

"I thought there would be a lot more people here," the second woman said.

One thing that was markedly absent from both the tour and informational session were people advocating against Erker's idea or offering reasons why it would not benefit the town and could even hurt it.

Informational session

Erker did describe his overall plan and how it came about during the informational session, and Teri Robnett, founder of Cannabis Patients Action Network, shared details about how the state regulate such facilities as what Erker wants to open.

"From a regulator's perspective, this is perfect," Robnett told the small crowd seated in the gym, citing the former prison's cameras, biometric identification system, razor wire-topped fence and other security measures already in place. "It doesn't lend itself easily to a whole lot of uses, but this is perfect."

And she knows quite a bit about those regulated and mandated security measures that would be required should Erker be allowed to proceed.

A cannabis advocate, Robnett was involved in the state-level work groups that set up regulations and rules related to recreational marijuana retail outlets and grow operations following Amendment 64's passage.

"The comfort level for you is a lot of the really heavy lifting has been done for you by the state," she said.

In addition to the security features, Robnett cited the facility's benefits for an agricultural operation with many stages of growth needing to happen at the same time.

"It's great, too, from a grower's perspective," she said of the old prison. "If there's bugs in one area, it's easier to isolate it, to quarantine. The challenge is going to be how to most efficiently use the space."

She also pointed to the continuing work being done at the state level to test potency of the plants and the various products they are turned into, as well as all pesticides and chemicals that are allowed to be used on them.

There also are work groups dealing with programs and protocols for "keeping it out of the hands of minors," keeping drug cartels' product out of the Colorado cannabis supply and stopping and preventing drugged driving.

Robnett also pointed out that because recreational marijuana is now legal to possess and use in small quantities for everyone 21 and older in Colorado, not allowing retail outlets or grow operations in Brush would not also mean there would not be marijuana in the city.

"If you're going to have it in your community anyway, why not regulate it?" she asked. "I think this is a good policy, and I want to see it go forward."

Robnett also advocated for Nick and David Erker's idea on the basis of it being a long-term investment.

"One thing Brush needs to realize is what a treasure these brothers are," she said. "They're not just moving in for the 'Green Rush.' They believe in it for this community, whereas others might come in and they don't care what it would do to the community, but they do. I can confidently say that everyone's heart is in the right place."

Nick Erker re-iterated that sentiment.

"I wanted to do this because I thought it's in the best opportunity for the city of Brush to repurpose this facility," he said. "It would keep Brush strong and bring in jobs and revenue."

He also pointed out that marijuana now is Colorado's second-most-regulated industry, right behind plutonium, one of the radioactive elements used to make atomic bombs.

Nick Erker also went over some of the regulatory measures he would face if allowed to open his proposed grow facility. That includes surveillance cameras that allow a view of every plant connected to a state system that can tell if the cameras are working, as well as individual serial numbers for plants.

"One of the benefits at the former High Plains Correctional Facility is there are cameras everywhere," Nick Erker said. "If we lose surveillance for four hours, the state comes out and checks out the reason. The state also requires you to have a back-up of the video and a back-up of the back-up."

He also recognized that emotions are running high on his proposal and that even if people support it, they may be "afraid" to express or show that support.

"A lot of people in the community are for this," he said. "They're in favor of the jobs, the revenue. But they're afraid to come out, they're afraid of what their neighbors might think."

Nick Erker also pointed out that under Amendment 64, Brush would have jurisdiction over setting time, place and manner restrictions on facilities like the one he is proposing on his 21 acres at the former prison, and "everything has to be done by the book. We would take this very seriously."

He said his intention was to operate this facility, if allowed, "just like my family has operated Erker Grain Co. since 1976."

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